1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an approach for using a computerized interactive instruction device that provides interactive recipe preparation instructions to disabled individuals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various sources are available to assist a user in preparing meals and following a recipe. These sources include books, television programs, videos, and Internet sources. These sources provide cooking guidance and teaching assisting users with a variety of skill levels. These sources often provide step-by-step instructions.
A challenge of these sources is that they are not interactive and they are not generally tailored to the needs of disabled individuals, such as individuals with sight or hearing impairments. One approach to this challenge is a live cooking instructor with whom the user can interact. However, cooking instruction is quite costly, especially personal instruction, and is generally provided at a location outside the user's home, such as at a cooking school or restaurant. Implements and ingredients found at cooking schools and restaurants is often quite different from the implements and ingredients found at the user's home. These differences make it challenging to apply the instruction provided at the cooking school or restaurant with recipe preparation at the user's normal location, such as the user's home kitchen. Moreover, instructors at these types of cooking schools are often ill-equipped and not trained for the specific needs of disabled individuals.
Another challenge is that traditional sources do not provide additional computerized intelligence to assist the user during meal preparation. In addition, traditional sources do not interface with the user's appliances in order to further assist the user. Finally, traditional sources do not monitor the user's performance nor do they alert the user when the user is not following the recipe correctly.